Lilian's Tree

I belong to both the Guild of One- Name Studies and the Surname Society and with both I have several One Name studies, the main one being ABBERTON.  Now when I starteedthis genealogy journey, nealy 35 years ago, everything was either microfisch, microfilm or paper, so you had to copy everything down. Well I did, every Abberton surname reference for both New South Wales and Victoria, sorted out which family was mine and after several years, ditched the ones that were of no use. (Insert head slap here).  Well guess who now has to go back and do it all again???? The only blessing is that I now know more that I did then and I can look for different spellings and the records are more up-to-date. Why not consider joining either or both societies and do a study of your surname? Guild of One-Name Studies. Surname Society Both allow you to search, to see if someone is doing the surname you are after. Happy Searching, Lilian.

I hope you have enjoyed the 12 Books in 12 Months theme and found something useful for you.  I am tossing up several ideas for 2020. One being a monthly Grateful Journal and the other a Mixed Bag. I have a young friend and she does a weekly Thankful post and then a Monthly one and it gives her a time to reflect on what has happened. I like that idea. The Mixed Bag,will be what ever catches my eye, at that time. Might be a good book, what I'm sewing/knitting, a place we have been or what I'm researching. Both ideas are still in the thinking stage, so watch this space. Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hugs Lilian

Unlocking Land: A Guide to Crown Land Records held at State Archives NSW, by Terry Kass. I have just finished three weeks of classes, held by the Botany Bay Family History Society, to which I belong, on land records.  This book was mentioned and I decided to purchase a copy.  I will say I haven't read it, fully, (yet),but have used it to help with information I needed. The book has 13 chapters and each chapter as several sections. Terry gives an extensive bibliography, in Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 has the New South Wales Record Series (NRS) List, to help you find the correct record to search. Good clear examples are given of the different reords, you might come across, some with a step by step guide as to how to search them. So if you want to explore the area, your ancestors lived in or look for the land they owned or even find out more about the plot you live on, try searching the NSW State Archives, find a copy of Terry's book to help decipher the records and uncov...

Right in time to add to your Christmas wish list, this book, 'Organize Your Genealogy, strategies and solutions for every researcher,' by Drew Smith, is a must to start the New Year, with all your research in order. Well you  can read the book and dream. Eleven chapters on organzing eveything from yourself, to volunteering, you will have things tidy, in no time.  The chapter I really need to re-read and follow is on Organizing Your Online Research. How often do we go and search for something we have found or checked before? Guilty. (I have spelt organise the American way, as that is what Drew used.) Let me know if you get organised!

Years ago my husband’s, Paul’s aunt said that we were related to a famous artist, Adelaide Ironside. Well in a way he is and this is how I worked it out. Adelaide Eliza Ironside born 17 November 1831 [1] , to James Ironside and Martha Rebecca Redman.   It was looking into Martha that I got all excited, as her father, John Redman, could have been either a guard on the First Fleet or a convict on the Second Fleet. Well Martha isn’t on Paul’s line.   So scrap that bit of excitement. Sometime before Adelaide turned three, Martha and James separated and as divorce required a great deal of effort, they didn’t divorce. James didn’t waste any time in finding another lady, one Ellen Oak/Oaks. It is through this line that Paul is a descendent. James and Ellen had five children, according to James’ death certificate, four males and one female. [2]   I can only find one birth, that of Frederick James Ironsides, born 23 October 1836 [3] .   Frederick would m...

This months book is one I use, when stumped by an occupation I have found on a certificate, a census or in a will. Not all old trades, titles and occupations are the same now as then, nor did some, like  Alaska yarn spinner, mean that they came from Alaska.  (It actually means, Spinner of mixed cotton and wool cloth.) I got my copy from    Gould    Genealogy, in South Australia.

After all the wonderful sessions, on Thursday, we all rolled-up for Friday and Saturday's sessions, determined to miss nothing. There wasn't enough time between dinner and bed for us to 'play' with what we had been shown and I do think that sleep was an after thought, for some people. The rain, forcast, for Sydney arrived and we were reaching for umbrellas and dodging puddles, on our way into the venue. Friday and Blaine stared the day discussing, "Ethical and legal consideration for DNA evidence."  Blaine discussed naming a beneficiary, for our DNA tests, when we are gone. To always read the terms and conditions of every test, we take. To give information to those, we want to test, for us. How ot impart senstive information, we find. Ethics is something we all should be aware of and consider carefully. My next session was with Shelly Crawford, from ConnectedDNA. She mentioned other tools you can use to look at clusters but, really I think her pro...

Something a bit different, this month. I read a review for, "Murder, Misadventure & Miserable Ends. Tales from a Colonial Coroner's Court." by Catie Gilchrist and went, 'got to read this one'. The book is about Henry Shiell, Sydney City Coroner from 1866 to 1899. The book looks at the seedy side of Colonial Sydney, with its seedy streets, dangerous industries and few safety regulations. As the blurb says, "any death that was sudden or suspicious would be invistigated by the coroner." There is a photo of Bondi Beach and until I read the caption, I didn't think that it was Bondi Beach, as it is isolated. This book gives a good look at what Sydney was like in the 19th Century and as such has allowed me a glimpse of what life was like for my ancestors. An interesting read, for both the dark side of the city and for a look as to what life was like then.

In spite of the predicted cold temperatures and rain around 400 dedicated genealogists, descended on Castle Hill RSL, for the start of three days of talks on DNA. Registration was a very smooth process and very soon hugs were being collected, from old and new friends. 9.00am had us all settled into the main theater, for the start of the day. Blaine T Bettinger, the overseas guest speaker, started with, 'Understanding and interpreting your ethnicity results.' This wasn't something I fully understood and Blaine's way of explaining it had me going, 'I get it, now!' The rest of the day offered two or three different talks, with a variety of speakers. Kerry Farmer, was my choice, with 'Combining DNA with traditional techniques.'  Kerry is a great speaker and I've heard her give several DNA talks, over the years, all are interesting and today's was excellent. I have only just started digging deeper, with my DNA results and this talk re-enforced t...

It is still a waiting game, for relpies to my Ancestry messages. (Insert a sigh, here.) I had Shelley Crawford from Connected DNA, re-do my matches, but only as far down as 30 cM's and I'm thrilled with the results. This is what Shelley does, she finds connections. The first picture is what she did for me, back in January, using all of my Ancestry DNA matches, then.                                                                                                    This is 654 nodes and 1,524 edges. As you can see it is FULL of connections, making it difficult to see exactly what is what. This one is this week and only to 30 cM's.                             ...

I realise not everyone reading this knows how BIG my search field is. SO, My great-grandparents, Thomas Abberton and Mary Torpy had 15 children, 13 reach adult hood, 11 married and had large families. This is what I'm trolling through. Well, I've heard back from CH, he is related but he hasn't got back to me with his shared, if any cM's with my big match, DM. sigh. I haven't been idle and have contacted four more close matches. One I know is from the the eldest of the 15 and I don't think a match. Why? Well I also know two other ladies, PB and MW and they don't match DM.  Not totally crossing that link off, yet. I also contacted both SB and GA, both I know are on my Grandparents line. GA shares 282 cM's with DL, close.  SB is checking for me. I've also used Blaine  T Bettinger's relationship charts to try and work out the connection. https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2017/08/26/august-2017-update-to-the-shared-cm-project/ Here is the ...

Don't know what colour to paint the hall, bedroom or family room? Why don't you do as King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands have done? The photo, below is from the magazine Hello, number 1595, 5 August 2019, page 84. To quote the article, " The most intriguing room is the DNA Room, homage to Queen Maxima's interest in genetic research. To decorate the walls, British-Dutch artist Jacob van  der Beugel used 60,000 tiles to create a work of art representing Willem, Maxima and Catherina-Amalia's DNA sequence." Something a bit different.

When I did my Ancestry DNA, last year, I had a really good match come up.   This was it. 1st–2nd Cousin Shared DNA: 731 cM across 29 segments   I was thrilled as she was on my Paternal side. So I sent her a message, asking how we might be connected and waited, and waited and waited. Nothing back, so I waited some more and then sent another message and started waiting, again. I searched her tree and couldn't see a link but then she showed up as a link to a very close family member, as well as several others on my paternal side. I left it sit on the 'to be done' list and went away. Now I'm back I'm going to try and find our connection. Another close family member has joined Ancestry and yes is a connection to her.  I've also had a message from another connection, CH  and it is through him that I'm going to work. Method or madness??? Using ConnectedDNA, I sorted my groups, numerically, largest to smallest. Went to Ancestry and printed off...

While I was away I picked up these two books, to help with my research. Atlas of Irish History has five parts, Origins, The Conquest of Ireland, Reformation and Restoration, From Splendour to Famine and Modern Ireland. These parts have chapters and maps outlining such things as Post-Famine Emigration and The 1798 Rebellion. The Little History of Kent, is along the same lines as the Irish book but it doesn’t have maps. Starting with In the Beginning and ending with Modern Times 2000-, it tells the history of Kent.

Shelly Crawford is a speaker at next months DNA Down Under and I'm so looking forward to hearing her speak. Shelly runs ConnectedDNA and having used this, to connect my DNA links, I'm now going to use it to help find how my top Ancestry DNA connection and I are connected. So watch this space, as I'm going to blog about how I'm going. Below is an interview I did, with Shelly, earlier this year and she explains ConnectedDNA better than I can. Hi Shelley, thank you for agreeing to chat with me. Tell me a bit about Shelley Crawford and your interest in DNA. Hi Lilian, I’m Australian living in the nation’s capital city. I’m married with two children (10 and 13) and have been researching my family tree for nearly 30 years – ever since I could drive myself to the library! When I bought my first DNA test in 2010 I was curious to see what DNA could do for my research. Since then I’ve tested with or uploaded my files to each of the major companies. DNA evidence has sup...

Lisa Louise Cooke's book, The Genealogist's Google Toolbox, is wonderful. A useful book that you can turn to, when you are stuck, even if you don't do genealogy. How to use Google Alerts,  Google Books and Google Scholar, are just some of the tools, Lisa covers. Written so that you can follow the instructions and not be confused, this book would be a very useful addition to your bookshelf.

I'm still making my mind up about Glasgow. I liked seeing the main city area but to me it lacks the history of Edinburgh and the warmth as well. I arrived early Saturday morning, by train. An amazing trip 45 minutes to go from Edinburgh to Glasgow, only three stops, on the fast train. By 10.00am I was in my hotel room. I then had a full day to explore and 22,000+ steps later, I had explored. This interesting clock, was near my hotel. Hiding the carpark. Council building and War Memorial. Clyde River. Walking to the main shopping area, I walked down to the Clyde River. There were very few people around, nothing happening on the water, it looked forlorn. I crossed the footbridge, to explore the other side and when a man came out of the hotel swearing, I went back across the bridge.  I also explored around the three universities, near my hotel but again very few people around. Also checked out several shopping malls. Sunday was a day exploring Stirling ...

We are all made-up of DNA, unique and different but I was fascinated when I read this, in Kew Gardens.  I'll let the photos explain.

I arrived in Edinburgh, on Tuesday and haven't stopped! Edinburgh has cobblestones AND hills. I you go down the hill, somewhere you must come up the hill, even on a different street! There are statues, around the city called Orr Wullie, they will be auctioned, for the Edinburgh Children's Hospital. I think it is a great way to get people to explore the city, running groups, do find the Wullies, such fun. There are 60 in the Edinburgh area and I've managed to photograph 19 and have seen another, to make 20. Doing this I have seen the Scottish Parliament Building, with what looks like sticks, on the outside. Arthur's Seat a massive hill, that is part of the volcano, that Edinburgh Castle sits on, but it is a distance away. The Palace of Holyrood, but not close enough for a photo. Churches, interesting buildings and quaint closes. I did a bus tour, on Wednesday, that showed us the sights of Edinburgh, so I knew what to go and look at. After that I went to...